How to Grow Potatoes in Potato Planter Bags (1)

Growing potatoes is quite easy if you use a no dig method aka containers.  Most store bought potatoes are treated to prevent sprouting.  If you have some that were not treated and have sprouted you can use those or you can buy seed potatoes to plant.  You can use a plastic garbage pail with drainage holes or a potato planter bag.  These bags are meant for landscaping projects and some companies sell top soil or compost in them so this is a great way to recycle the bags.  The potatoes are planted in about 4 - inches of compost then covered with 2 to 6 inches of compost.  As with all container planting be sure to use an organic fertilizer.  As the potatoes grow the bag is unrolled a little then more compost is added to keep the green shoots covered until the bag is almost completely filled then allow the shoots to grow.  This will maximize the potato yield.  To harvest simply put the plant from the bag.  Be sure to  check though the compost for any potatoes that might have fallen off.  Save the compost for replanting.  Here is a video showing the technique.  Tomorrow's post will show how your potato bags should look and the following post will show the harvest.  Note his recommendation to keep the compost moist but not wet so water often but not a lot at a time.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
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